Gov. Greg Abbott tweets harsh words for HISD

HOUSTON – Gov. Greg Abbott provided harsh criticism of Houston Independent School District board members in a tweet Thursday.

The message posted to Twitter read:

“What a joke. HISD leadership is a disaster. Their self-centered ineptitude has failed the children they are supposed to educate. If ever there was a school board that needs to be taken over and reformed it’s HISD. Their students & parents deserve change.”

The scathing tweet from Abbott was in response to an article written by three HISD parents who are part of a group call the HISD Advocates.

Sarah Becker, co-author of the article, said that didn’t agree with Abbott's criticism.

"I think it's outrageous for the governor to invoke parents. We are parents, we're the ones who wrote the op-ed. We are the community," Becker said.

“I just find it unfortunate that tweets have become acceptable forms of governance. That’s unfortunate,” said HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones.

As has been reported, HISD has dealt with issues surrounding possible sanctions and controversy regarding the interim superintendent position, but Skillern-Jones said the district is working on the issues and says the tweet was shocking.

"We welcome Governor Abbott to come here and see the work that is happening, hard work that administrators and educators are doing with the kids, to actually witness that for himself, to actually look at the data and see how far we have come and re evaluate opinions based on facts,” Skillern-Jones said.

“It’s easy to make a statement about HISD from a distance. I welcome the governor to visit, listen to the community and become part of the solution versus formulating opinions on others opinions,“ HISD Board Member Diana Davila said.

KPRC reached out to Abbott's office for a response, but has not yet heard back.


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